Goto

Collaborating Authors

 black death


Medieval plague victims likely found in mass grave in Germany

Popular Science

Archaeologists say they located a Black Death burial site containing some of a village's 12,000 dead. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The Black Death () killed as much as half of Europe's total population between 1346 and 1353, so there are a of bodies buried across the continent. For example, contemporary accounts from Thuringia--a state in central Germany--report that about 12,000 plague victims died around Erfurt amid the city's outbreak in 1350. But despite multiple accounts attesting to this devastation, none of the 11 mass graves could be pinpointed for centuries.


Medieval volcanoes may have ignited the Black Death

Popular Science

More than just rats and fleas added to the'perfect storm' plague. Photograph of the fresco Trionfo della Morte, taken at its original location in the Camposanto Monumentale in Pisa. The fresco, known as the "Triumph of Death" and attributed to the painter Buonamico Buffalmacco, is not precisely dated; scholarly estimates range from 1335 to 1350. While it does not depict the Black Death explicitly, the selected detail shows victims of an epidemic from diverse social backgrounds, their souls carried off by demons. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday.


Centuries of Black Death misinformation started with a poem

Popular Science

A 14th century trickster tale was misread as fact. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Misinformation surrounding COVID-19 is still a major problem more than five years after its emergence. Even after hundreds of years, our understanding of the Black Death () remains clouded by false narratives. In a study recently published in the, historians at the UK's University of Exeter argue the infamous plague likely didn't move across the continent as quickly as many experts thought.